Henry wrote a short post on Ollibean about his civil rights and wanting to be able to go to school in his neighborhood. Everyone should read it. Everyone should be up in arms. He can communicate. He can learn. He thinks he can do the work for a normal classroom, and the school refuses to even let him try because of his disabilities, even with the offer that his parents will supply the support staff for it. What with this being a public school, I'm fairly sure it's illegal for them to do that, but who here actually thinks schools stay within the bounds of the law? Blast, my school didn't even know about the part where I'm autistic, and they did illegal stuff related to my shellfish allergy. Which is, you know, bad. And needs to stop.
So my point here is that the neighborhood school is discriminating against Henry. (Henry does not speak. He uses an iPad to communicate instead, and yes, I have seen him type. He can type. He can answer questions. He can ask questions.) And they need to NOT discriminate against him. And I STAND WITH HENRY.
You should stand with Henry too. There is a Facebook page for standing with him here, and these other blogs (people's names given if their blog is not otherwise named and they share their name) have written about standing with him.
Mama Be Good
Emma's Hope Book
Amy Sequenzia
Raving Mother From Hell
Raising Rebel Souls
ThAutcast
Lily Frost (Henry's sister)
Emilie's Blog
Aspergers and Me
zachfoster71 (very short)
Enabling Occupational Therapy
Girl With The Cane on Blogspot
Balanced Imperfection (not purely about Henry, but does mention him)
Paula Kluth
AZ Is Amazing
Autism Rights Watch
(Yes, you can send me a link to where you wrote about standing with Henry and I will add it.)
There is now a petition on change.org for Henry.
Also, NPR, Yahoo, and TakePart have covered the story, and Henry is mentioned in the last two paragraphs of this story in the Orlando Sentinel. The Huffington Post has interviewed Henry as well.
So my point here is that the neighborhood school is discriminating against Henry. (Henry does not speak. He uses an iPad to communicate instead, and yes, I have seen him type. He can type. He can answer questions. He can ask questions.) And they need to NOT discriminate against him. And I STAND WITH HENRY.
You should stand with Henry too. There is a Facebook page for standing with him here, and these other blogs (people's names given if their blog is not otherwise named and they share their name) have written about standing with him.
Mama Be Good
Emma's Hope Book
Amy Sequenzia
Raving Mother From Hell
Raising Rebel Souls
ThAutcast
Lily Frost (Henry's sister)
Emilie's Blog
Aspergers and Me
zachfoster71 (very short)
Enabling Occupational Therapy
Girl With The Cane on Blogspot
Balanced Imperfection (not purely about Henry, but does mention him)
Paula Kluth
AZ Is Amazing
Autism Rights Watch
(Yes, you can send me a link to where you wrote about standing with Henry and I will add it.)
There is now a petition on change.org for Henry.
Also, NPR, Yahoo, and TakePart have covered the story, and Henry is mentioned in the last two paragraphs of this story in the Orlando Sentinel. The Huffington Post has interviewed Henry as well.
Thank you for standing with Henry. It is very obvious to pretty much all of the people who have read about this situation that Henry deserves to go to his neighborhood school. Henry and his family are in the right and the school is clearly in the wrong. Henry simply wants his civil rights.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely correct. Federal law mandates that students with disabilities be educated in the "least restrictive environment" (LRE). LRE means the most inclusive, "mainstream" educational environment in which the student can be supported and accommodated so as to be able to access the curriculum. I don't know the particulars of Henry's case, but offhand it appears that the district is breaking the law by not allowing Henry to attend the school he would attend if not for his disability. In addition, if he is only able to function in that school with a support person, the DISTRICT, NOT THE PARENTS, is legally obliged to provide it.
DeleteGood info- I think the reasoning behind parents is to get someone the parents trust, since schools have apparently taken Henry's iPad before (he needs it to communicate) and they don't trust a school that doesn't want him there not to try that and then use his inability to communicate without it as evidence to get him out. (And yes, I am aware that doing that is also full of illegal. They've already shown willingness to be full of illegal, though...)
DeleteHenry is an awesome person, he has the right to make decisions! Go Henry!
ReplyDeleteGeovana
Thank you ! H is tired and totally chilling out after an exhausting week. But he did type. "Thanks, Alyssa" and then signed "ASI friend, stands up" and asked me to tell you about Lily's blog http://ollibean.com/2012/09/03/a-sister-stands-with-her-brother-i-am-heard-i-am-important-and-i-am-included/
ReplyDeleteWe also saw another blog http://raisingrebelsouls.blogspot.com/2012/09/rebel-souls-stand-with-henry.html
Lauri
Thanks for the info! I've added both, and I'm glad he's taking the time to chill. And yes, I do remember him from ASI :)
DeleteHi! I've written about Henry too. http://aspergersandmeblog.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/i-stand-with-henry/
ReplyDeleteThe school is clearly in the wrong. I could see this thing potentially going clear to the Supreme Court, but it shouldn't have to. As someone who is 'mentally ill', I too had problems in high school as a kid as I wasn't diagnosed until my second year in college. I would like to link this to my own blog http://zachfoster71.wordpress.com with your permission.
ReplyDeleteGo for it. You are not Autism Speaks, Generation Rescue, or Age of Autism so far as I can tell, and the word needs to be spread!
DeleteOh, and if you write your own thing about him you get on that list of people who did.
DeleteNope. I'm an independent writer/blogger/concerned citizen. I just believe in doing the right thing.
DeleteThat's exactly who we want sharing it! Go forth and create outrage!
DeleteI went ahead and posted a link to your page and wrote some about Henry. Maybe I can send a little traffic your way. Keep up the good work.
DeleteThe school is clearly in the wrong. I could see this thing potentially going clear to the Supreme Court, but it shouldn't have to. As someone who is 'mentally ill', I too had problems in high school as a kid as I wasn't diagnosed until my second year in college. I would like to link this to my own blog http://zachfoster71.wordpress.com with your permission.
ReplyDelete